The crap I've read on conspiracy theory boards has done more to make me disbelieve conspiracies than anything else. Many of these people have readily identifiable mental illness and it doesn't lend much credibility to their ideas.

Denigrate and alienate people who question the official story. Discount their opinions and questions and squelch dissent. Openly mock anyone who deviates from the proper groupthink. Do not give them any quarter. Make them embarrassed to ask any questions.

SpdrJay:The crap I've read on conspiracy theory boards has done more to make me disbelieve conspiracies than anything else. Many of these people have readily identifiable mental illness and it doesn't lend much credibility to their ideas.

Yeah but its amazing the number of people who aren't obvious loonies, but hold a conspiracy belief. They just don't make it their hobby like those folks, so they're not always going on about it. I'm sure you can easily think of one or two people who are seeming rational and sane people...but who really think 9/11 was an inside job. Or that the jews secretly control the world. Or that fluoride in the water is dangerous, drug companies withhold cures to (HIV, cancer, etc) for profits...

AverageAmericanGuy:Denigrate and alienate people who question the official story. Discount their opinions and questions and squelch dissent. Openly mock anyone who deviates from the proper groupthink. Do not give them any quarter. Make them embarrassed to ask any questions.

It's up to all of us to stop the spread of lies against the State.

Whenever I hear this sort of thing, it doesn't make me want to expose the conspiracy, it makes me want to join the conspirators. Probably there's something wrong with me.

AverageAmericanGuy:Denigrate and alienate people who question the official story. Discount their opinions and questions and squelch dissent. Openly mock anyone who deviates from the proper groupthink. Do not give them any quarter. Make them embarrassed to ask any questions.

It's up to all of us to stop the spread of lies against the State.

When your opinions require the need for thousands of fellow citizens to keep the secret without any real motivation to do so, rely on lack of evidence as evidence for the conspiracy, and include accusations of my fellow citizens in law enforcement being part of a conspiracy that is systematically killing other citizens in false flag operations but yet you can't produce evidence for it, you will be mocked.

Accepting reality isn't 'groupthink'. Go ahead, ask questions. It is your claims, but if you are making claims that don't match reality, they will be discounted.

1) The US government ruthlessly killed 3000 people of its own people on 911.2) Alex Jones *apparently* works tirelessly to uncover this heinous conspiracy.3) Yet, somehow, Alex Jones's fat, bloviating, gun-cuddling ass has still not been ruthlessly assassinated by the powerful conspirators who remorselessly killed 3000 Americans on 911, and then perpetrated a massive media coverup.4) Alex Jones is a laughably retarded dipsh*t.

Obvious conclusion: Alex Jones act is, IN FACT, an obvious false flag planted by the United States government to make the awakened truthseekers appear foolish and laughably retarded. FALSE FLAG, FALSE FLAG.

ThunderPelvis:1) The US government ruthlessly killed 3000 people of its own people on 911.2) Alex Jones *apparently* works tirelessly to uncover this heinous conspiracy.3) Yet, somehow, Alex Jones's fat, bloviating, gun-cuddling ass has still not been ruthlessly assassinated by the powerful conspirators who remorselessly killed 3000 Americans on 911, and then perpetrated a massive media coverup.4) Alex Jones is a laughably retarded dipsh*t.

Obvious conclusion: Alex Jones act is, IN FACT, an obvious false flag planted by the United States government to make the awakened truthseekers appear foolish and laughably retarded. FALSE FLAG, FALSE FLAG.

/gonna do this every time I talk to a conspiracy nut from now on.

I met that blowhard in a rental car place in the late 1990s, when he was still local to Austin. He told me he was renting a car because "government thugs" shot his truck all up. With him in it. Without hitting him at all. Totaled his truck tho. Then he gave me some passes to Bad Boys strip club.

ThunderPelvis:1) The US government ruthlessly killed 3000 people of its own people on 911.2) Alex Jones *apparently* works tirelessly to uncover this heinous conspiracy.3) Yet, somehow, Alex Jones's fat, bloviating, gun-cuddling ass has still not been ruthlessly assassinated by the powerful conspirators who remorselessly killed 3000 Americans on 911, and then perpetrated a massive media coverup.4) Alex Jones is a laughably retarded dipsh*t.

Obvious conclusion: Alex Jones act is, IN FACT, an obvious false flag planted by the United States government to make the awakened truthseekers appear foolish and laughably retarded. FALSE FLAG, FALSE FLAG.

/gonna do this every time I talk to a conspiracy nut from now on.

Oh and don't forget hippie's were violent, there were no FBI men starting sh@t disguised in crowds.

Another recent study indicates that receiving positive information about or even being merely exposed to conspiracy theories can lead people to become disengaged from important political and societal topics. For example, in their study, Daniel Jolley and Karen Douglas clearly show that participants who received information that supported the idea that global warming is a hoax were less willing to engage politically and also less willing to implement individual behavioral changes such as reducing their carbon footprint.

These findings are alarming because they show that conspiracy theories sow public mistrust and undermine democratic debate by diverting attention away from important scientific, political and societal issues.

What's really alarming is that this implies that conspiracy theories can be engineered to accomplish that exact purpose

untaken_name:ThunderPelvis: 1) The US government ruthlessly killed 3000 people of its own people on 911.2) Alex Jones *apparently* works tirelessly to uncover this heinous conspiracy.3) Yet, somehow, Alex Jones's fat, bloviating, gun-cuddling ass has still not been ruthlessly assassinated by the powerful conspirators who remorselessly killed 3000 Americans on 911, and then perpetrated a massive media coverup.4) Alex Jones is a laughably retarded dipsh*t.

Obvious conclusion: Alex Jones act is, IN FACT, an obvious false flag planted by the United States government to make the awakened truthseekers appear foolish and laughably retarded. FALSE FLAG, FALSE FLAG.

/gonna do this every time I talk to a conspiracy nut from now on.

I met that blowhard in a rental car place in the late 1990s, when he was still local to Austin. He told me he was renting a car because "government thugs" shot his truck all up. With him in it. Without hitting him at all. Totaled his truck tho. Then he gave me some passes to Bad Boys strip club.

untaken_name:ThunderPelvis: 1) The US government ruthlessly killed 3000 people of its own people on 911.2) Alex Jones *apparently* works tirelessly to uncover this heinous conspiracy.3) Yet, somehow, Alex Jones's fat, bloviating, gun-cuddling ass has still not been ruthlessly assassinated by the powerful conspirators who remorselessly killed 3000 Americans on 911, and then perpetrated a massive media coverup.4) Alex Jones is a laughably retarded dipsh*t.

Obvious conclusion: Alex Jones act is, IN FACT, an obvious false flag planted by the United States government to make the awakened truthseekers appear foolish and laughably retarded. FALSE FLAG, FALSE FLAG.

/gonna do this every time I talk to a conspiracy nut from now on.

I met that blowhard in a rental car place in the late 1990s, when he was still local to Austin. He told me he was renting a car because "government thugs" shot his truck all up. With him in it. Without hitting him at all. Totaled his truck tho. Then he gave me some passes to Bad Boys strip club.

untaken_name:I met that blowhard in a rental car place in the late 1990s, when he was still local to Austin. He told me he was renting a car because "government thugs" shot his truck all up. With him in it. Without hitting him at all. Totaled his truck tho. Then he gave me some passes to Bad Boys strip club.

untaken_name:ThunderPelvis: 1) The US government ruthlessly killed 3000 people of its own people on 911.2) Alex Jones *apparently* works tirelessly to uncover this heinous conspiracy.3) Yet, somehow, Alex Jones's fat, bloviating, gun-cuddling ass has still not been ruthlessly assassinated by the powerful conspirators who remorselessly killed 3000 Americans on 911, and then perpetrated a massive media coverup.4) Alex Jones is a laughably retarded dipsh*t.

Obvious conclusion: Alex Jones act is, IN FACT, an obvious false flag planted by the United States government to make the awakened truthseekers appear foolish and laughably retarded. FALSE FLAG, FALSE FLAG.

/gonna do this every time I talk to a conspiracy nut from now on.

I met that blowhard in a rental car place in the late 1990s, when he was still local to Austin. He told me he was renting a car because "government thugs" shot his truck all up. With him in it. Without hitting him at all. Totaled his truck tho. Then he gave me some passes to Bad Boys strip club.

phaseolus:Another recent study indicates that receiving positive information about or even being merely exposed to conspiracy theories can lead people to become disengaged from important political and societal topics. For example, in their study, Daniel Jolley and Karen Douglas clearly show that participants who received information that supported the idea that global warming is a hoax were less willing to engage politically and also less willing to implement individual behavioral changes such as reducing their carbon footprint.

These findings are alarming because they show that conspiracy theories sow public mistrust and undermine democratic debate by diverting attention away from important scientific, political and societal issues.

What's really alarming is that this implies that conspiracy theories can be engineered to accomplish that exact purpose

It seems pretty apparent that conspiracy theorists in the public sphere protect the government from real criticism by poisoning the well with obvious errant nonsense, but it seems unlikely that is deliberately engineered given the media has always tended to seek out and amplify the most outrageous, stupid, weird and nutball parts of society.

muck4doo:Fact: Global Warming started about the same time U.F.O's started showing up. Coincidence? I think not.Fact: They are changing our climate and atmosphere to match theirs.

Old friend of mine from high school came up with that exact yarn at one point. He was big on the "X-Files" when it came out and swore up and down that all the episodes were based on true stories and the real human government was using the Fiction/Entertainment format to present people with the facts as gently as possible so they'd be more amenable to the invasion when it became too obvious to ignore. It was an "X-Files" script I think, (I never watched that show, not even once).

When he took to calling me at 0130 to rant about the latest episode or about something he'd heard from Art Bell or some shiat, I finally told him to quit calling me. This from a guy that I defied death with as a teenager more than a couple times. We were the original "hold my bong and watch this" guys.

phaseolus:Another recent study indicates that receiving positive information about or even being merely exposed to conspiracy theories can lead people to become disengaged from important political and societal topics. For example, in their study, Daniel Jolley and Karen Douglas clearly show that participants who received information that supported the idea that global warming is a hoax were less willing to engage politically and also less willing to implement individual behavioral changes such as reducing their carbon footprint.

These findings are alarming because they show that conspiracy theories sow public mistrust and undermine democratic debate by diverting attention away from important scientific, political and societal issues.

What's really alarming is that this implies that conspiracy theories can be engineered to accomplish that exact purpose

No it was only a coincidence that the Loose Change guys were in the military right before all that. There's no way the government, any government, would have ever planed misinformation campaigns, that's just silly talk./Again there are no conspiracies ever.